Australian Open: Rafael Nadal Battles Stomach Pain To Beat Denis Shapovalov, Reaches Semi-Final

The Spanish sixth seed edged the Canadian 14th seed 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 in 4hr 8min of thrilling action on Rod Laver Arena

Rafael Nadal moved to within two matches of a record 21st Grand Slam title with a dogfight five-set quarter-final win over Denis Shapovalov at the Australian Open on Tuesday. The Spanish sixth seed edged the Canadian 14th seed 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 in 4hr 8min of thrilling action on Rod Laver Arena to advance to his seventh semi-final in Melbourne where he will face either Matteo Berrettini or Gael Monfils. It was a gritty win for Nadal over the 22-year-old, who was coming off a straight-sets upset of third seed Alexander Zverev.

"It was very tough today. Honestly I didn't practise for it," Nadal said.

"Denis was playing great. He is very talented, very aggressive and he was serving huge. It's amazing to be in the semi-finals."

The Spanish legend is tied with great rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on 20 major titles but with Djokovic forced home by deportation over vaccination issues and Federer injured, the opportunity is there for him to go clear at the top.

Nadal, the 2009 Australian Open champion, had his 2021 season wrecked by a chronic foot injury followed by a bout of Covid-19 in December.